Gladiators Add 10th Anniversary Jersey

Photo from Gwinnett Gladiators official website

The ECHL's Gwinnett Gladiators will be sporting a special edition 10th anniversary sweater this season and fans can get their hands on one for the first time tonight when the club opens its home schedule.

The Gladiators are looking to their NHL affiliate, the Phoenix Coyotes, for inspiration, quite clearly. It's essentially the Coyotes' home sweater with some text on the front. That's right, text. My favorite. (Sorry, hope I didn't drip any of that sarcasm on you.)

It sounds like this won't be an alternate jersey so much as the Glads' go-to dark jersey this season. ECHL teams wear white and home and colors on the road until the midpoint of the season when they all do a big switch-a-roo. (It gives teams a chance to showcase both of their uniforms to fans in an effort to sell more of each.)

Here's what else the team had to say about it a couple weeks ago.

In honor of their 10th year in Gwinnett, the Gladiators have decided to commemorate the anniversary by introducing a new maroon jersey for the 2012-2013 season. Fans in attendance at this past Sunday’s pre-season game were privy to a special sneak peek at the new sweaters.

The Gladiators will wear them for Opening Weekend before their designation on road games as the "dark" sweater option per ECHL mandate. At the midway point of the season, member teams will switch their jerseys, and the Gladiators will finish the 2nd half of the year wearing their maroon sweaters at home.

In homage to the history of hockey, the jerseys have a decidedly vintage feel complete with lace-up neck and "Gwinnett" across the chest.

The right shoulder will bear the ECHL's 25th anniversary patch while the left will have the team's 10th anniversary patch. But whatever floats their boat, I suppose.

I have to say, the design is quite plain and really does nothing for me, but I'd rather hear what Gladiators fans think of it. Would you buy one? It turns out they'll actually be kind of a "limited edition" type deal since the team's contract with SP Apparel is ending and they don't want to be left with stuff they can't sell. (Does this also mean we'll see more new Gladiators jerseys in 2013?)